USA(Oregon-Portland)The corpses of Dayib Maal Axmed, his sixteen year old son Cumar Dayib Maal, and Ismaaciil Maxamuud Caateeye were lined up in rows in ragged shrouds in the town of Borama. The bodies were laid out for viewing after the victims were killed in Seemaal village outside of theBaki District in the Awdal region in the early morning hours of December 5, 2011.

The men were sleeping in their restaurant when fifteen armed men arrived. The shooters separated intogroups. According to Abiib Aw Axmed Caateeye who was present during the shooting, the shooters went inside the restaurant and purposely shot overhead so that one of the sleepingpersons would take his sheets off, exposing his head. Abiib got up to escape and collided withone of the assailants. The assailant’s gun fell out of his hands and Abiib ran away. He said, “When the person was recognized and his clan identified, he was shot in the head.”A man of the Cabdiraxman Sacad clan who was sleeping that night in the same room as the victims, and several others belonging to other clans outside of Gadabuursi lineage wereescorted to safety by the marauders. Non-Gadabuursi villagers had left the area the day before—after receiving information about the killing that was supposed to take place that day.Two of the killers were identified by a witness as Daahir Cali Ducaale of Jibri Abokor, sub-lineage of Xareed and sub-sub- lineage of Dhabar. The second killer, Carab Cali Ismaaciil came from the same lineage. According to a second witness who did not identify himself said that, it can verify that the Army commander of Somaliland, General Nuux Ismaaciil Taani organized this clan militia to kill these men. His statement was based on the fact that the shells of the bullets used in the killings came from the Somaliland armory.

Nuux Taani also is a cousin of the twomen who participated in the killing. They both belong to the sub-lineage of Dhabar/Xareed/Jibri Abokor. The witness stated that General Taani runs both the National army and the clan militia believed to be terrorizing people in the village of Seemaal.When the message reached Suldaan Saleebaan Cali Ismail that several of his kinsmen weredead in Seemaal village, he addressed his people and the people of Somaliland. He said, both“enemy and camel caravans only come from the direction you expect” (Col iyo dhaanba halkii lag eegayo ayey ka yimaadaan). He pointed out that General Taani, the “man who lives on thehill” is behind these crimes. The elder also believes that the other men behind the crime include Muuse Cabdi Biixi, the Kulmiye political party head; Abiib Diiriye Nuur (Timocad), advisor to President Siilaanyo; the Reer Nuur elders who assured people with the so called peace between Reer Nuur and Reer Xareed; and those who came to Borama recently to erect a monument of peace dedicated to what local citizens view as the history of the Somali National Movement monument.

The message to the Reer Nuur clan was that you cannot fight a government militia with ten boys. Suldaan Saleebaan asked for three days so that he couldaddress the issue with Siilaanyo, the current president of Somaliland. He asked his people tostay put and promised that on the fourth day he would head to the mountain himself. He agreed to do whatever was necessary even if it meant they all died. Suldaan Saleebaanconcluded his remarks by demanding that General Taani be removed from his position.The pugnacious General denied the accusations. He said that the victims were his maternal cousins and part of his kinship, so the finger should not be pointed at him. He felt the elders ofAwdal should restrain themselves. He noted that if it were alleged that he committed this crime, the country has agencies that are responsible for investigating. However, a Sultan whoclaims to be the chief of all chiefs in Somaliland, Maxamed Suldaan Abdilqaadir said there was a man currently detained for these crimes whose name is Sheekh Maxamuud Raage. He statedthat he was told by General Taani and Abiib Diiriye Nuur, advisor to President Siilaanyo, not tomake a peace deal with the clans. These men must be interviewed about their involvement inthis issue. The Sultan also said that Maxamuud Raage must be further questioned about this issue, noting that the two men have pressured and incited his clan not to make a peacefulagreement in reference to the crimes of 2009.President Ahmed Maxamed Maxamuud (Siilaanyo) dispatched his military commander, GeneralTaani; Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdillahi Omar, Interior Minister Mohamed Nuur Caraale, and Chief of Police Saqadhi Dubbad to the town of Gabiley to meet with some of the elders of Gabiley.

The very same General who accompanied the delegation to Gabiley has been found to be behind the crimes. In fact the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Abdillahi Omar and a clan relative of General Taani held a conference with their elders and extended clan members. When the meeting was complete Omar held a press conference assuring Gabiley that everybody would be working together to arrest the culprits. The main perpetrator was right there in the meeting! The outcome of the meeting was that the President would announce the resignation of his general after two individuals who were part of the fifteen that conducted the crime were arrested and said that General Taani ordered the killings of Seemaal.

The President forced him to resign, but allegedly General Taani indignantly tore up the letter ordering him tostep down. The General who was the main orchestrator of this violence may even now be planning toorganize additional clan-based guerrilla warfare. Resignation alone is not acceptable. General Taani must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The criminal investigation must proceedwith a public hearing to question him and the others who collectively planned these crimes. Thethirteen remaining individuals who were ordered by Taani to conduct this violence must bearrested and be brought in to give testimony. The charges against them include using a national army and weapons to orchestrate ethnic crimes with state assets. The criminal investigations must also include his lower ranking officials who were responsible for the releaseof ammunition from the armory. Independent investigators must be dispatched to Seemaal tocollect further evidence and testimony from families and individuals evacuated from the areaprior to the crime. It is essential to determine the extent to which they collaborated withTaani’s clan militia. A neutral force consisting of all clans must be brought in to keep peace. The entire unit that was under Taani’s leadership must be disbanded and removed from the Seemaal area.Prominent party members of Kulmiye, the ruling party, and Reer Xareed clan elders face seriouscharges. The highest officials of the state are involved in such crimes. Because this crimeinvolved members of state institutions and extended family members, an independentcommission should take jurisdiction of this conflict. All regional clan representatives, intellectuals, and civil servants of Awdal must resign and return home to chart their own course of action without Somaliland assistance or intervention. No amount of blood money (mag) isacceptable when the state is involved in the crime and continues to appoint former guerrillafighters to positions of authority, which seriously undermines stability and security. General Maxamed Xassan Cabdillahi (Jidhif), former Somali National Movement (SNM) leader and head of the Red Flag (Calan Cas) Unit has been appointed to be the head of the Military of Somaliland. The new general comes from the clan of Dalal, Jibri Abokor lineage. The likelihood of General Maxamed remaining neutral between Jibri Abokor and the Reer Nuur lineage is highly questionable. The appointment s of generals is carried out unilaterally by the president. There is no consultation with the Guurti (House of Elders) and the Guriga Wakiiladda (House ofRepresentatives). His appointment will not be conducive to the safety and security of Gabiley and the Awdal region, especially in areas where clan real estate is mixed and requires a careful balance of leadership, and the impartial administration of justice. It requires an individual that brings no baggage from the era of the civil war, and must exclude those who were on the frontline, those who were responsible for the destruction of peace, and those who createdenmity among the people.Two things must be avoided in Gabiley and the area bordering the Awdal region: (1)appointment of a clan adversary, and (2) the creation of militias that are prominently from one family. The best approach would be to assign a civilian administrator, an individual who is neither Isaaq nor Gadabuursi. This administrator would be impartial in the future relations ofthe clan families, able to fairly resolve the long standing disputes over farming, wells, politicalpositions; and the balancing of civil servants, military, police, courts and all other facets of the country.

Finally the people of Awdal should be treated as shareholders in the state, not simplyfigureheads appointed as window dressing. If the shareholding arrangement is not beneficialto the interest of the people of Awdal, then each group will have to withdraw its share and take it somewhere else where they will gain more safety and security for their own people. Many of the elders and intellectuals have chosen to be with Somaliland, but without genuinerepresentation and ownership of their land, safety and security, it will not be possible tomaintain peace and stability. Somaliland should be shareholder, not a family entity that tries towin supporters from other clans through bribes and rewards of ministerial positions. The sharing and allocation of all state resources and positions must be undertaken with fairness, fullconsultation, integrity and good citizenship.

Jaafar Mahamed Shiekh Jamac

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